ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Structural Geology and Tectonics
Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Upper Kaghan Valley, northwestern Himalayas: insights from integrated field and remote sensing analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Peshawar National Centre of Excellence in Geology, Peshawar, Pakistan
- 2Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- 3The University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan
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The Himalayas were shaped when the Indian-Eurasian plates collided and active orogenic processes make the Upper Kaghan Valley located in the Higher Himalayas. Earlier studies were not able to incorporate all necessary geological, structural and Remote sensing information for complete Tectonostratigraphic analysis. We present a single, unified tectono-stratigraphic column for the Upper Kaghan Valley built from 1:25,000 field mapping, quantitative structural analysis, cross-section preparation, and Sentinel-1 SAR. Three deformation phases are supported by kinematic indicators: F1 (NW-SE) gentle–open folds (layer‑parallel shortening), F2 (NE-SW) tight, fault‑propagation folding and back‑thrusting and F3 localized E–W doming. Integrating published geochronology, we correlate mapped granites with Ordovician S‑type Mansehra‑style plutonism (ca. 483–476 Ma), Cenozoic Kohistan arc I‑type granites (~75–42 Ma), and Miocene HHC leucogranites (~21–17 Ma). Among many other faults, reverse, thrust and back thrust faults are widely observed which indicate current movement, turning over and shaping of valley, most associated with Tertiary granites. Fieldwork and remote sensing were combined to better understand the structure and types of rocks in the Himalayan orogeny. The resulting framework constrains the sequence of deformation and uplift along the MCT to MMT and provides targets for mineral prospectivity. Keywords: Himalayan orogeny, Tectono-stratigraphic evolution, Fold-thrust belt, Remote sensing, Geological mapping.
Keywords: Fold-thrust belt, Geological mapping, Himalayan orogeny, remote sensing, Tectono-stratigraphic evolution
Received: 15 Oct 2025; Accepted: 09 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Farooq, Wahid, Ullah, Bibi and Yousaf Khan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Majid Farooq
Waheed Ullah
Tehmina Bibi
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